Luke 9 - A Whole New Exodus

You may not be able to judge a book by its cover … but give a book a good title and it can catch your imagination.

In one sense the first five books of the Old Testament, the Books of the Law, the Torah, have pretty dull titles.

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.

In another sense, these remarkable one-word titles say it all.

Genesis is as the title suggests a book of beginnings.

Exodus is as the title suggests the book that tells of the exodus, the journey the twelve tribes of Israel took out of Egypt

Leviticus is as the title suggests the book that contains the holiness laws associated with the priestly tribe of Levi

Numbers is as the title suggests the book that details the numbers of people in the various tribes in their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.

And Deuteronomy is as the title suggests the second reading of the law by Moses as he stands on the threshold of the Promised land.

There is, however, a catch.

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew.

And the titles we use in our English Bibles are taken not from the Hebrew but from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

Genesis – the Greek word for beginning

Ex – odos – the Greek word for the way that leads out of somewhere

Leviticus – the Greek for relating to the tribe of Levi

Numbers – the Greek name

And Deutero means second, nomos law – it really is the second reading of the law.

Tradition has it that It was during the reign of Ptolemy II (285-246) in what we think of now as Egypt, that 72 scholars gathered in Alexandria, the Oxford of the ancient world and in 72 days translated the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek.

Further Greek books were added to this collection of Greek Scriptures in the next 150 years which don’t have Hebrew originals.  Those Greek books are accepted as part of the Christian Old Testament in the Greek speaking world of the Orthodox churches and indeed by the Rooman Catholic churches.

It’s a quirk that while our English protestant Old Testaments use the Greek names for the first five books of the Bible, our Protestant Bibles relegate the  Greek-only books to what we think of as the Apocrypha – literally the hidden books.

It wasn’t just that the Greek language had become dominant in the Eastern Mediterranean world, Greek culture had too.  And that became highly controversial among the Jewish people.

The controversy is highlighted in 1 and II Maccabees: many Jewish people were prepared to accommodate the Greek cultural world, having their circumcision reversed and doing gymnastics in the nude in the newly built stadium in Jerusalem where the Gymnasium became as important almost as the temple.  There’s even reference there to the games held every 4 years – the Olympic Games.

Herod the Great and the Herodian dynasty are among those who are very much in this mould – they mix their Jewishness with the prevailing culture of the Greek world.  So much so that when those Olympic Games were in danger for want of cash Herod the Great stepped in about 16 years before the time of Christ and won a name for himself as the big sponsor who saved the Olympic Games.

By the time of Jesus the Roman Empire had its grip on the Eastern Mediterranean world, but it was still the Greek language that was spoken.  Pharisees responded to the threat o fthe Greek culture by reasserting the purity of the law, the Herodians on the other hand were completely in hock to the culture of the day.   Saducees were among the wealthy elite in Jerusalem who reinforced the Herodian dynasty … and the priests were very much part of the Herodian scene.

It’s against that backdrop that the Greek Luke tells the story in his Gospel of John the Baptist and then Jesus who bring something new into the equation.

First John the Baptist and then Jesus revive the line of the ancient prophets.   They do as the prophets of old had done – they speak vigorously truth to power and their message is all about how power should be exercised – it is all about God’s way of ruling – what’s all important are not the kingdoms of this world, least of all the Roman empire: what’s all important is the Kingdom of God.

And when John the Baptist speaks such truth to the powers that be in the world of his day, the powers that be didn’t like it.  Herod had him imprisoned and subsequently executed.  But Jesus took up the mantle of John the Baptist and carried on the prophetic task.

Having taken up the mantle from John the Baptist … Jesus then passes it on to what Luke describes as ‘the twelve’.

The number is not insignificant.

In Genesis, the book of beginnings, Jacob has 12 sons … and they become the tribes of Israel.

Jesus, like John the Baptist before him, had a name for the power of what he was able to do and for the authority of his teaching.

It’s that power and authority that he invests in the twelve.

Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, 6They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

Luke’s already told us that the thing about Jesus was that his teaching was the kind of teaching that would transform the world and transform people’s hearts – it was the message of the Kingdom of God – and that he brought healing into the lives of hurting people.  Words and Deeds.

The thing about the Twelve is that they are given power and authority by Jesus to do exactly the same – to take forward the work he has come to do.

Their task is ‘to proclaim the kingdom of God’ and ‘to heal’ (verse 2). And that’s exactly what they did – ‘bringing the good news’ and ‘curing diseases everywhere’.

So who should take offence.

Herod.

He could see exactly what was going on.

He thought he had put an end to it.

He hadn’t.

It was beginning to get out of hand.

This resurgence of the Prophets of old troubled him.

Deeply

7 Now Herod the ruler heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, 8by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen. 9Herod said, ‘John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?’ And he tried to see him.

There’s a sense of excitement as the Twelve return, they move over to the North East of the Sea of Galilee to Philips’ home of Bethsaida and crowds and crowds follow him.

What does Jesus do?

He ‘spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed’

Time and again we come across these two dimensions of the work of Jesus.

This is what it’s about.

From Jesus to the Twelve.  From the Twelve down through the ages to us.

We are in the business of shaping the whole of our lives, personally, in our families, in society at large the way God wills, bringing the rule of God down to earth.

We are in the business of bringing healing to hurting people.  That’s what drives our pastoral care, the commitment we have to people in need wherever those people might be.

It grew dark.  The crowd were hungry. And after blessing the five loaves and the two fish Jesus got the Twelve to feed the 5,000 who were sitting in ordered ranks of 50.

The kingdom’s coming.  It’s on the move.

And do you know how many baskets of crumbs there were left over?

Twelve.

Echoes of Genesis.

How can anyone sustain such a ministry, Jesus, the twelve … us?

Only in prayer.

So it is now we find ‘Jesus was praying alone’.

He has his circle of disciples around him.

And he asks them a question.

‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’

This is the moment when he wants some kind of feedback.

How is he doing?

Do the crowds get it.

Indeed they do.

 19They answered, ‘John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.’

They’ve got it – they can see what’s going on.

Yes the prophets of old are being fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist, in the coming of Jesus.

But there’s more going on still as the Kingdom of God draws near.

20He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered, ‘The Messiah of God.’

The anointed one.  The one who, as Anna had seen right at the very beginning, would bring freedom to Jerusalem.

But Jesus sensed Peter didn’t really understand the nature of Jesus’s Messiahship, what it really takes to be Messiah, Christ, the anointed of God.

21 He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, 22saying, ‘The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.’

A Suffering Servant Messiah?

It made Peter and the other disciples stop in their tracks

What was the meaning of this?

Jesus held no punches.

23 Then he said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. 25What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?

A week passes.  Eight days.

And Jesus goes up a mountain.  In all likelihood the lower slopes of Mount Hermon – the 16,000 foot snow-topped mountain that is the source of the waters of the  Sea of Galilee, the River Jordan and the Dead Sea.

Now come echoes of the next book in the Old Testament, the Book of Exodus.

That book opens out in the wilderness with the encounter Moses has with God in the burning bush.  It proceeds to tell of the encounters Moses later has with God on Mount Sinai.

The whole story of the Exodus hinges on experiences of God in the open, and on the mountain top.

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Peter, James and John had been drowsy.  They came to with a start – they knew something special was going on.

It was as if at this moment there was an endorsement – Jesus truly was the fulfilment of all that Moses stood for and all that the line of the Prophets meant.

Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said. 34While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’

It’s a re-run of the Exodus story … and all the prophets have come together too.  And now out of a cloud comes the voice of God – echoes of the voice of God at the baptism.  This is my Son, my Chosen – he truly is King in the Kingdom of God.   And what’s more ‘listen to him!’

Too fanciful to make the connection with the Book of Exodus.

Remember Luke is writing in Greek.

Go back to the appearance of Moses and Elijah – the Law and the Prophets, and what were they talking about.

It’s a curious phrase.

Curious because it’s hard to translate.

Verse 31 – they were speaking of his ‘departure’.

How can you have a departure accomplished in Jerusalem, or as the NIV says, a departure fulfilled in Jerusalem.

But the Greek word is ‘Exodus’.

Not only is Jesus fulfilling the whole line of prophets.

He is to be the new Moses who will deliver his people bring the freedom of Jerusalem – a whole new exodus.

For they were speaking of his ‘exodus’ that will be accomplished or fulfilled in Jerusalem.

After a moment of healing of a boy none of the other disciples could help, then Jesus lays it on thick.

While everyone was amazed at all that he was doing, he said to his disciples, 44‘Let these words sink into your ears:

Let these words sink into your hearts.

 The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into human hands.’

There are echoes here of the third section of the Hebrew Scriptures, one of the last books, the Book of Daniel with all its talk of the Son of Man.

45But they did not understand this saying; its meaning was concealed from them, so that they could not perceive it.

What on earth could it mean – to suffer.

A suffering servant messiah was more than they could comprehend.

And they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

They still thought in the way the world thought of greatness in terms of power and influence.

So much so they were arguing as to which one of them was the greatest.

Jesus thought so very differently.

46 An argument arose among them as to which one of them was the greatest. 47But Jesus, aware of their inner thoughts, took a little child and put it by his side, 48and said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me; for the least among all of you is the greatest.’

It’s not how important you are that counts – it’s how you treat the children.

Something is spreading … and it cannot be controlled.

John and the others wanted to contain it … but it couldn’t be contained.

49 John answered, ‘Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.’ 50But Jesus said to him, ‘Do not stop him; for whoever is not against you is for you.’

We have reached a key moment in Luke’s Gospel.

Now’s the moment when Jesus sets out on a journey.  It is to be the journey that will define his Messiahship … and it really will lead to his rejection, his suffering, his death … and beyond to his resurrection.

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

It’s a journey that’s going to take Luke 10 chapters to tell.

And next Sunday evening in words and music with a service led by the choir we are going to move on to the very end of that journey as it takes Jesus to Jerusalem, to the cross and beyond to resurrection … and to a whole new exodus.

Luke 8 - Women and a World of Difference

In the previous week, one of our ministry team had collapsed and died very unexpectedly.  Diana Adams had grown up in Highbury and most recently been one of our Pastoral Care Ministry Leaders.  As we turned to Luke 8 Diana' contribution to the life of the church together with the faith she had shared with us was very much at the forefront of our minds.

There’s something wonderfully inclusive about the love of God Jesus makes real in his words and in his deeds.

Women as well as men have been in the crowds that Jesus taught.

Women as well as men have been in the crowds that Jesus healed.

Women played a prominent part in the opening chapters of the early days of Jesus – Elizbeth and Mary, Anna the prophet in Jerusalem too.

Indeed the very first person to spread the good news of the coming of Jesus as the expected Messiah in Jerusalem is Anna, the prophet.  She it was who began to praise God, as soon as she had been introduced to Jesus, and she began to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

The story first of John the Baptist, and then of Jesus as Luke’s Gospel gets under way  in chapter 3 is very much the story of redemption, of the setting free of God’s people.  It is the story of good news for the poor, release for the captives, of sight for the blind and of freedom for the oppressed.

It’s a wonderful story as God’s love in Jesus reaches out to all – tax-colletors and sinners as well as fishermen and townspeople.   Leprosy sufferers too.  It’s a love that reaches beyond the boundaries to the Centurion’s servant and the widow of Nain.

It’s an all inclusive love.

And it’s just what John had been waiting for.

It’s happening

Something exciting is on the move.

And it’s for everyone.

But the powers that be find that hard to accept.

Now comes a woman.  Not just any woman.  But a woman with a reputation.  A bad reputation at that.

One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.’Jesus spoke up and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ ‘Teacher,’ he replied, ‘speak.’ ‘A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’ Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet.You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.’ Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’

It’s a wonderful story of forgiveness.

Jesus had already brought healing to the paralysed man whose friends had lowered him through the roof.  It had been a healing that touched his innermost being with the deep-down healing of forgiveness that he needed most.

Now too it was this deep down healing of forgiveness that touched this woman.

Those so religious people couldn’t take it.

Jesus … could he declare God’s forgiveness and make it real.

You could see the transformation that came into this woman’s life.

And people were amazed.

Then comes those wonderful words.

Your faith has saved you, go in peace.

It’s one of the most wonderful words in the language of the New Testament.

Your faith has SAVED you.

Rich in its meaning – it could be translated, ‘healed’ you.  It could be translated ‘made you whole’ It could be translatged ‘saved you’.

For salvation is not something just for the spirit.  And healing is not just something for the body.

God’s love brings transformation to us as whole people – body, mind and spirit – we are healed, we are made whole, we are touched with the salvation of God.

Sometimes this side of dying, sometimes the other side of dying.

For twenty years it has been easy to forget just how ill Diana has been.  When we arrived here in Cheltenham she was in and out of hospital, not well at all.  And yet she has plateaued and been so vigorus in her support of all with disabilities, challenging us as a church to be welcoming to all not just by having the right adjustments made to our buildings but by our attitudes as well.

Healing in the sense of cure didn’t come for Diana from the condition she has lived with for so many years.

But healing in all sorts of other senses has been something that has come to her over the years.  And healing that then she has shared not least in that vigorous commitment to people with different abilities.

Your faith has ‘saved’ you, made you whole, go in peace.

Maybe that’s a word for us to connect with Diana in our minds even now.

But then I want to move on into chapter 8 of Luke’s gospel story of Jesus.

For it is in chapter 8 that Luke introduces us to a set of women none of the other gospel writers describe or name.

8Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, ²as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, ³and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

This is fascinating.

This is a very different picture of the gropu around Jesus from the one we often carry around in our mind’s eye.

We have been introduced to the fishermen disciples and to Levi, one of the dreaded publican.  We have been introduced to the twelve who were drawn out from the disciples and names as apostles.

But now we discover something Luke alone tells us.

As he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.

I love that – proclaiming and bring the good news.

In words and also in actions – in the teaching so wonderfully summarised by Luke as the fly on the wall, and in the way he brought healing to so many hurting people.

The twelve were with him.  He was not alone.

As well as some women.

Isn’t that fascinating.

A mixed group.

The twelve as well as some women.

Who were the women?

8Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, ²as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities:

These were women who h ad received the healing touch of Jesus as he reached out to bring healing to hurting people.

Three of them are named.

Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out,

So much is told of Mary Magdalene.  Often the story we are used to is an amalgamation of several stories about a Mary and an anonymous person.

As far as Luke is concerned she had been a profoundly disturbed person.  Troubled by seven spirits – a way of saying how deep and pervasive the troubles that afflicted her were.

But she had been healed by Jesus.

The next is fascinating

 ³and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza,

That means Joanna has come right out of the court of Herod – the very Herod who had had John the Baptist imprisoned.  And quite possibly by now beheaded.

Notice here that these women, like the twelve, are travelling around with Jesus.

It is a reasonable inference that just as the fishermen disciples had left their nets to follow Jesus, so too Joanna had left her position of comfort in the household and court of Herod and had thrown her lot in with Jesus.

One other is named.

and Susanna,

Not that we hear anything of her.

My Aunty Suzie was Suzannah.   A lovely name.

Why should these three be named.

In a fascinating study of the Gospels and the history behind them, called Jesus and the Eye Witnesses, Richard Bauckham suggests that the people who are named in the Gospels are the people who in the opening few verses of his Gospel Luke describes as ‘eye-witnesses’.

They were those who had told their story.

They had in the fullness of time made sure that their story of Jesus was passed on.

How is it that Luke is able to give us a fly-on-the-wall glimpse of Jesus preaching in the synagogues, of Jesus’s open-air preaching to the crowds, of the ministry Jesus shared as he toured around those villages and cities?  It is because of the way the early church gave an honoured position to those who had been eye-witnesses and treasured the stories they told.

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Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Suzannah are very much in the mould of Anna – the one who had been the very first one to speak about Jesus to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

There werent’ just three in this group.  There were, Luke tells us, many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

I love that reference.

It’s easy to imagine that Jesus just was a wandering preacher who happened on a particular town or city.  This suggests that his mission was planned and well resourced.

It’s just a glimpse.

But a significant one of the way all the work of Christ’s kingdom does take planning and resourcing.

Maybe good to move on this evening to these women as we treasure the memory of Diana and all she shared with us in the church family.

Growing up through the Sunday School, Diana has gone on to play a significant part in the worship of the church not just through the choir but also in the lovely prayers she wrote and the services she put together for Christmas and Easter.    She served on the  Diaconate with Dick and with Dick was Church  Secretary at a diffult moment in the church’s history.  She has worked tirelellsy with young people through at church and especially through Highbury Guides and through District and County Girl Guiding.   Diana would be ever present at meetings of our Congregational Federation, has edited Highbury NBews and most recently has shared with Lorraine the post of Pastoral Care Ministry Leader.

It’s this kind of work, often behind the scenes, that enables the work of the church to continue and to grow.

And it’s part and parcel of what Luke gives us a glimpse of here at the very outset of the work of Jesus.

The work of ‘proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom’ is very much like sowing seeds – some come to fruition, some don’t.  It’s very much like bringing light into a darkened world, light that cannot be shrouded.

To be part of such a group as this is to be part of a family, the Jesus family.

He thought of those 12 and those women as his family – his own mother and his own brothers found it hard to take – but he was adamant, My  mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

Wow – church is very much a family.

And we feel the loss as a family feels the loss.

But being church family is not just a cosy reassuring kind of thing – it carries with it a challenge – to hear the word and do it.

Diana was impatitent too often with us just talking about doing things.  We need to do them too.

So much speaks to us in this chapter at this moment –

When the storm rages it is easy to lose faith … and yet it is in the midst of the storm that the presence of Jesus is so real, bringing peace where the storms only rage and roar..

One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side of the lake.’ So they put out, ²³and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A gale swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. ²⁴They went to him and woke him up, shouting, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm. ²⁵He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?’

To people troubled in mind, rejected by society, reduced to isolation that sinks into self-harm, Jesus brings peace.

And the chapter ends as it takes us back to just how inclusive the love of God in Jesus is.

It’s now the turn for a leader of the synagogue to turn to Jesus and find in Jesus the healing he needs for his daughter.  Maybe another of those eye witnesses, for he too is named Jairus.

But on the way to his home who should have the audacity to touch him but a woman who had problems with constant haemorrhaging, a condition that resulted in her constantly bleeding  - for twelve long years.

To touch him was to make him in turn untouchable.

Against the letter of the law to touch such a woman.

Jesus knew the touch had been there – power had gone from him.

And the woman came forward and the words Jesus spoke were so powerful, so moving, so wondlerfully inclusive.

Daugher, he said.

This woman too was one of the family – one of God’s people.

Your faith has made you well, go in peace.

It’s the same words – translated a bit differently.

This is salvation – the peace that she now finds.

It’s a wonderful chapter that’s somehow all-inclusive.

A wonderful chapter to read as today we remember Diana and think of Dick, Lesley and Wayne, Thomas and Samuel, Graham and Sheryl, and Bethan too.

It’s a chapter that reminds us of the sheer extent of the love of God in Jesus as it reaches out to us and draws us into his family.   How strange and how wonderful that at a time of sadness in our church family, there should also be a time of joy too.  As one departs, so another arrives

And we have become grandparents with the arrival of a little girl for Phil and Lynsey.

Luke 7 - God's Justice, Jesus' Way

There’s something rather special about some fly on the wall documentaries as they give you an insight into what goes on behind the scenes.  That was definitely the case recently in a fly on the wall documentary about Canterbury Cathedral.  The actual fly on the wall who spent a year with camera and microphone in hand was our own David Waters.  Then someone else did the editing of all the hours of recording David had done to order it into four hour-long documentaries.

After spending a year with us as a Time for God Volunteer David went on to study Theology at Durham University and then on to work at the BBC where he has worked on such programmes as Songs of Praise, Blue Peter.  One of the first programmes he worked on as a researcher was a series on the Miracles of Jesus.

It was fascinating talking to David as the programmes were being made and then to see the finished product – not only in its British version for the BBC, but also in its American version for an American Audience.

Each programme was the same on both sides of the Atlantic except for the voice-over … and more than that for the approach the ‘link-person’ made.

For the American audience the links through each episode involved a street magician and the question the voice-over came back to repeatedly was ‘are the miracles’ just a magic stunt, or is there something more going on?

You might have thought as a fully paid up member of the Cotswold Magical Society that I would have loved that approach.  I didn’t.  I cringed.  It seemed to me to miss the point entirely of the Gospel miracles.

I was much more drawn to the BBC’s more staid approach for the British audience.  They employed a BBC journalist who had done a lot of reporting in the Middle East to give a much more sober and reflective link to the each of the episodes.  As an investigative journalist his quest was to find out what was really going on behind the miracles of the Gospels.

That approach resonates with the approach Luke takes in the writing of his Gospel.

At the very outset he explains what he is doing.

Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.

Luke draws on other sources, many of whom are eye-witnesses, and then he organises all he has researched and give it an order – and the whole process has a purpose.   It's rather as if Luke is the editor working on the all the footage shot by those eye-witnesses and others who had put the story together before.

It is so that the Gentile Theophilus, or any ‘Theo – philos, Friend of God’ may know the truth concerning the things about which they have been instructed.

What is meant by ‘the truth’ in that sentence, I wonder?

Does Luke want to make sure that his readers know the exact actuality of everything that happened?   There’s an element of that, it seems to me.

But there’s something more going on in that introduction too.

He wants his readers to know the truth, the significance, the meaning of everything that he is recording.

It’s the same enterprise as that documentary series on the Miracles in its British version.

There’s a very real sense in which Luke works as the maker of a fly-on-the-wall documentary maker.  He draws on the work of a number of people who had been there – those were the David Waters’s with microphone and camera in hand, as it were.

Luke follows his source Mark, and shares common ground with Matthew, in making a very strong link between John the Baptist and the message he shares and the message Jesus takes up once John the Baptist has been imprisoned.

As Jesus takes up the mantle from John and begins his ministry in Luke 4 Luke tells us that ‘he began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

That’s not enough for Luke, however, he gives us the opportunity to be a fly on the wall in one of those synagoguegs and to hear what Jesus had to say.

And so in Luke 4:16-30 we join Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth.  It is as if for Luke this occasion encapsulates the mission Jesus had begun to undertake, it summed up his message.

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

   because he has anointed me

     to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

   and recovery of sight to the blind,

     to let the oppressed go free,

19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

The people are ‘amazed at the words of grace that come from his mouth’ … but their amazement turns to rage when Jesus tells two stories to throw light on exactly who the poor, the blind, the captives are who are to receive this good news.

The expectation of the people was that it would be for us and our poor, for us and our captives, for us and our blind.  And definitely not ‘for them’ – the Gentiles, the Roman powers that with the Herodians were oppressing the people.

Jesus told the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, the Gentile from Sidon,, and the story of Elisha and Naaman the Syrian, the Gentile leprosy suffer who was healed.

When they heard this all in the synagogue were filled with rage and got up and drove him out of the town.

But of course Jesus passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

He heals hurting people and proclaims the good news of the Kingdom of God throughout the land – for this, says, Jesus is what he had come to do.

He draws others into the enterprise – it’s something worth passing on, fishermen, Levi one of the hated Publicani caught up in the Roman state’s oppressive ways, and then from all those disciples he appoints twelve to be sent out and pass the message on.

And what is the message they are to pass on?  Again, it’s as if Luke draws on a fly-on-the-wall documentary maker and he gives us a glimpse of Jesus the teacher at work in the wonderful Sermon on the Plain, Luke’s condensed version of the Sermon on the Mount.

It’s hard hitting stuff … exactly in keeping with the original message in Luke 4.

‘Blessed are you who are poor,

   for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,

   for you will be filled.

‘Blessed are you who weep now,

   for you will laugh.

24 ‘But woe to you who are rich,

   for you have received your consolation.

25 ‘Woe to you who are full now,

   for you will be hungry.

‘Woe to you who are laughing now,

   for you will mourn and weep.

It’s about loving your neighbour … and it’s about loving your enemy too.

It’s powerful stuff – worth passing on.

How can you be sure?

How can we know the truth of the matter?

What’s going on?

The thing is in the way Luke is unfolding this story what’s interesting in chapter 7 is not so much whether what Jesus does involved magical healings.  What’s interesting is the significance of what’s going on.

This is what interested the makers of David’s documentary series on the Miracles.  It’s what interested Luke in telling his Gospel story.

From the sermon on the plain Luke moves straight on to tell at similar length two Miracle Stories.

But notice what’s going on here.

Back in Nazareth in Chapter 4 Jesus told two stories – one was about Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, the Gentile woman, and the other was about Naaman the Commander of the Syrian army who was suffering from leprosy.

After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. 3When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. 4When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, ‘He is worthy of having you do this for him, 5for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us.’ 6And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, ‘Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; 7therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. 8For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, “Go”, and he goes, and to another, “Come”, and he comes, and to my slave, “Do this”, and the slave does it.’ 9When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, ‘I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.’ 10When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

The whole point of this story is the way Jesus does exactly as Elisha had done with Naaman, the Gentile, Syrian army commander.  Jesus brings healing to the household of this army commander, this Roman centurion.

Jesus is amazed to such an extent that he says, ‘I tell you not even in Israel have I found such faith.

Jesus is doing exactly as Elisha had done.

Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.

11 Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. 12As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. 13When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ 14Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, rise!’ 15The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. 16Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen among us!’ and ‘God has looked favourably on his people!’ 17This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.

You can track through the story of the raising of the widow’s son at Nain and it runs parallel with the raising of the widow’s son in Zarephath.  Something that’s explored in David’s documentary marvellously.

It’s as if Jesus is putting into action that sermon in Nazareth and bringing healing to the Gentile world in exactly the way Elisha and Elijah before him had done.

What’s fascinating is the reaction of the crowd.  Such an event doesn’t prove the divinity of Jesus – that was not at stake.

By Luke 7:16 the crowds recognise exactly what’s going on.  Jesus has taken up the mantle of that wonderful line of prophets stretching back through John the Baptist, through Isaiah to Elisha and to Elijah

they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has risen among us!’

What’s more – this really is the breaking in on of the year of God’s favour for they went on to say,

‘God has looked favourably on his people!’

It’s at this point that we cut back to John the Baptist.

Messengers come from John the Baptist.  John is in prison and he wants to know whether it’s happening.

18 The disciples of John reported all these things to him.

John’s disciples report what’s going on.

And John wants to know what really is going on.

So John summoned two of his disciples 19and sent them to the Lord to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’

That’s the burning question for John the Baptist.

20When the men had come to him, they said, ‘John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” ’

Luke builds up the tension by repeating the question in full.

21Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, plagues, and evil spirits, and had given sight to many who were blind. 22And he answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. 23And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

That’s the measure.

This is the program.

This is what it takes to be that one, the one who ushers in the kingdom.

This is what it is about.

This is what’s worth passing on.

It’s no flash in the pan.

As Luke’s gospel unfolds this is the heart of the message.

24 When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? 25What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. 26What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27This is the one about whom it is written,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

   who will prepare your way before you.”

28I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.’

There’s a choice here.

This is the crux of the matter.

It is all about the justice of God.

29(And all the people who heard this, including the tax-collectors, acknowledged the justice of God, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism. 30But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.)

31 ‘To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32They are like children sitting in the market-place and calling to one another,

“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;

   we wailed, and you did not weep.”

33For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, “He has a demon”; 34the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” 35Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.’

This is the way of the kingdom.

These are the values of the kingdom.

This is what it’s all about.

This is for John the clincher.

This is ‘the truth concerning the things about which we have been instructed’.

These are the values of the kingdom – this is what it takes when God’s rule is made real in the world, when God’s kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven, when God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is what we need to be on the look out for among those who would exercise rule over us as an election approaches.  That's what the House of Bishops were seeking to do in their letter to electors that really is worth reading in the original and not in the press summaries.  That's what Vincent Nichols was saying on the Radio this morning the Roman Catholics are doing as they put together questions to ask of candidates at the election.  That's what The Methodists, the URC and the Baptists are doing as they prepare their pack for churches.  That's what we will be doing at the Hustings meeting we shall be holding on 25th April when we get the opportunity from the churches to question our candidates.

This is the measure of what we should look for from those who would seek to govern in our country ...

God’s justice.

Healing for hurting people who are at their worst.

Acceptance of the outsider.

Good news for the poor.